MANSEHRA, May 9: The NWFP government has ordered a departmental inquiry against a number of forest officials for illegal cutting of trees in Hazara forest division during the last three years, official sources say.

These officials include DFOs and range forest officers who, during their posting in Kaghan, Seron, Agrore Tanawal, Batgram and Kohistan forest divisions, have inflicted a loss on the exchequer involving billion of rupees.

Sources said these officials plundered the forest wealth in connivance with timber smugglers in spite of a ban on forest harvesting. They smuggled more than 20,000 cubic-feet (cft) of wood daily alone from Mansehra district, they added.

Timber smuggling also continued unabated from Batgram and Kohistan districts, they said and added that smugglers dumped timber illegally obtained from the forests of Batgram and Kohistan in Thakot. Smugglers’ men in Thakot threw timber in river Sindh to let it flow to Tarbela lake near Haripur where another gang receives it for its onward transportation to Punjab and other areas of the country.

It is learnt that smugglers buy timber from local market at Rs200 to Rs250 per cft, but the rate in other parts of the country ranges from Rs1,000 to Rs1,200 per cft.

Sources say some five million cft of such timber is lying in valleys of Kohistan district following recent measures taken against corrupt officials.